Hollywood
Oscars 2015: ‘Birdman’ takes home four awards including Best Picture
MUMBAI: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) has pipped other contending movies like Boyhood, Whiplash, The Grand Budapest Hotel, American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Selma and The Theory of Everything at the 87th Academy Awards to take home the Best Picture statuette.
Birdman won a total of four Academy Awards, which are as follows: Best Picture, Best Director (Alejandro G. Inarritu), Best Cinematography (Emmanuel Lubezki) and Best Original Screenplay (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo).
The Oscar for the Best Actor went to Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), whereas the Best Actress award went to Julianne Moore (Still Alice). On the other hand, the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor went to JK Simmons for Whiplash, whereas Patricia Arquette won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Boyhood.
Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel tied for the most number of nominations (nine) and incidentally both movies won four Oscars each. Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel won the award for Achievement in Costume Design (Milena Canonero), Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat), Best Production Design (Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock) and Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Frances Hannon, Mark Coulier).
The Oscar for Achievement in sound mixing went to Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley for Whiplash, whereas the Oscar for Achievement in sound editing went to Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman for American Sniper.
Whiplash won Tom Cross an Oscar for Achievement in film editing, whereas Interstellar took home the Oscar for Achievement in visual effects (Paul J Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott R Fisher). The Oscar for Best original song went to Common and John Legend for their song ‘Glory’ from the Martin Luther King drama Selma.
The Oscar for the Best foreign-language film went to Polish film Ida, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. On the other hand, The Phone Call (Mat Kirkby, James Lucas) took home the award for Best live-action short film. The Best documentary short subject went to Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 (Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Dana Perry). The Best animated short film was won by Feast (Patrick Osborne, Kristina Reed).
The Oscar for the Best Adapted screenplay went to Graham Moore for The Imitation Game. The Best animated feature film award went to Big Hero 6. The Best documentary feature award went to the Edward Snowden docu Citizenfour (Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky). On the other hand, the Oscar for the Best original score went to Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Hollywood
WBD sets April 23 vote on $110bn Paramount Skydance merger
Investor approval key step, but regulators loom over mega media deal
NEW YORK: Warner Bros. Discovery has set April 23 as the date for shareholders to vote on its proposed $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance, marking a crucial step in one of the biggest media deals in recent years.
The all-cash transaction offers WBD shareholders $31 per share, a hefty 147 per cent premium to its unaffected stock price, signalling strong intent to push the deal across the finish line. The company’s board has unanimously backed the merger and is urging investors to vote in favour.
Even if shareholders give the green light, the deal is far from done. Regulators in the United States and Europe are expected to scrutinise the merger closely, weighing concerns around competition and potential price impacts for consumers.
To keep investors on side, WBD has built in a safety net. If the deal is not completed by September 30, shareholders will receive a quarterly “ticking fee” of $0.25 per share until closure.
The proposed merger would significantly reshape the media landscape, combining the assets of Warner Bros. Discovery with those linked to Paramount Global and Skydance Media. It would also cement the growing influence of David Ellison, who has been steering Skydance’s aggressive expansion strategy.
“The WBD Board has been guided by the singular principle of securing a transaction that maximises the value of our iconic assets and delivers as much certainty as possible to our shareholders,” said Warner Bros. Discovery board chair Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr.. “This historic transaction will expand consumer choice and create new opportunities for creative talent.”
Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive officer David Zaslav added that the company is working closely with its counterpart to close the deal and unlock value for stakeholders.
With investor backing likely but regulatory hurdles ahead, the proposed merger is shaping up to be a defining moment for the global entertainment industry, where scale, content and competition are increasingly intertwined.
